Fine Novel on New Zealand

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18817, 21 September 1935, Page 9

Fine Novel on New Zealand

THERE may have been more brilliant ■ iirst novels than “The Little Country, ” but very few which have been so worth while. The author, Mr. John Guthrie, in short, reveals New Zealand and its people, arid that is an excellent thing- to do. The book contains a host oi men and women of the towns and countryside, and the varied incidents form vignettes of their life and characters which, if at times disjointed, yet maintain the interest because they tire indeed live people well worth meeting. The cross-section with which Mr Guthrie has presented us includes many activities, from petty politics and real estate to mountaineering. He is a patriot and a hard hitter; he understands human beings; and he can write.

•For the reader of serious Jiction “The Little Country” will ‘please because it is unusual. It is well worth an early place on the reader's list. — (Nelson).

A second book is Miss Nolle Al. Seaiilan's entertaining nnvei, “Ambition's Harvest,” winch lulls the love story of Alary .VL-crridge, daughter ol a prosperous merchant, and Hurley lloss, son of social outsiders. Tragedy sends Harley westward, while Mary, driven by a restless, ambitious temperament, leaves her New Zealand home to go to America. Mary and Harley meet again in London as grown man and woman, with positions reversed. Their chequered love in England and on the Continent shows two young people swept by sudden impulse; quarrelling, reconciled, troubled, tranquil, human and lovable and at times absurdly gay.